Like the 8th Wonder of the World himself scaling the Empire State Building, Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie from Ubisoft climbed to the top of this year’s nominee list for the Spike TV Video Game Awards. The big ape game is up for seven kudos, including Best Action Game, Best Graphics, Best Performance by a Human (Male–Jack Black, Female–Naomi Watts), and Designer of the Year (Michel Ancel). Actor Samuel L. Jackson, who took home a VGA award last year for his performance in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, will host the 2005 awards ceremony on Friday, Nov. 18 at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles. The two-hour gala event will be broadcast on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Spike TV.
50 Cent: Bulletproof from Vivendi Universal Games, World of Warcraft from Blizzard Ent., James Bond 007: From Russia with Love from Electronic Arts and Call of Duty 2 from Activision each received six nominations. World of Warcraft and Call of Duty 2 are up for Game of the Year, along with Sony Computer Entertainment America’s God of War, Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 and Vivendi Universal Games’ F.E.A.R.
Resident Evil 4 and God of War are also giving Kong some competition in the Best Action Game race, as are 50 Cent: Bulletproof and Rockstar Games’ The Warriors (Vivendi Universal Games). Kong and The Warriors will also rumble for Best Game Based on a Movie, a category filled out by Star Wars Battlefront II from LucasArts, The Matrix: Path of Neo from Atari and James Bond 007: From Russia With Love.
Best Graphics will be a showdown between King Kong, Call of Duty 2, F.E.A.R., PGR3 (Microsoft Game Studios) and Resident Evil 4. Meanwhile Kong and F.E.A.R earned Designer of the Year nods for Michel Ancel and Craig Hubbard, respectively. They will be up against David Jaffe for God of War, Rob Pardo for World of Warcraft and Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendogs.
Winners of the VGAs are determined by votes from the Video Game Industry Voting Council, which is made up of more than 200 industry journalists. Winners in two Viewers Choice categories will solely be determined by viewer voting. The audience will asked to choose the Best Driving Game from Gran Turismo 4 (Sony Computer Entertainment America), L.A. Rush (Midway), Forza Motorsport (Microsoft Game Studios), Burnout Revenge (Electronic Arts), and Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition (Rockstar Games). Viewer voting will also determine Most Addictive Game from a field comprised of We Love Katamari (Namco Hometek), World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment), Lumines (Ubisoft), Nintendogs (Nintendo) and Meteos (Nintendo)
Other nominees are:
BEST INDIVIDUAL SPORTS GAME
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 (Electronic Arts)
SSX On Tour (Electronic Arts)
Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland (Activision, Inc.)
Top Spin (2K Sports)
EA Sports Fight Night Round 2 (Electronic Arts)
BEST TEAM SPORTS GAME
Blitz: The League (Midway)
Madden NFL 06 (Electronic Arts)
NBA 2K6 (2K Sports)
World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 International (Konami)
NBA Street V3 (Electronic Arts)
BEST FIGHTING GAME
Fight Night Round 2 (Electronic Arts)
SOULCALIBUR III (Namco Hometek)
TEKKEN 5 (Namco Hometek Inc.)
Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower (Capcom)
Mortal Combat: Shaolin Monks (Midway)
BEST MILITARY GAME
Call of Duty 2 (Activision)
Brothers in Arms Earned in Blood (Ubisoft)
Battlefield 2 (Electronic Arts)
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (Ubisoft)
SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs (Sony Computer Entertainment America)
BEST HANDHELD GAME
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar Games)
Lumines (Ubisoft)
Nintendogs (Nintendo Co. Ltd.)
Meteos (Nintendo Co. Ltd.)
Burnout Legends (Electronic Arts)
BEST FIRST PERSON ACTION
Call of Duty 2 (Activision)
Far Cry Instincts (Ubisoft)
F.E.A.R. (Vivendi Universal Games)
Battlefield 2 (Electronic Arts)
Perfect Dark Zero (Microsoft Games Studio)
BEST MULTI-PLAYER GAME
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs (Sony Computer Entertainment America)
Battlefield 2 (Electronic Arts)
City of Villains (NCSoft)
Guild Wars (NCSoft)
BEST PC GAME
Call of Duty 2 (Activision)
F.E.A.R. (Vivendi Universal Games)
Sid Meier’s Civilization IV (2K Games)
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
Battlefield 2 (Electronic Arts)
BEST RPG
Jade Empire (Microsoft Game Studios)
X-Men Legends II: Rise of the Apocalypse (Activision)
Dungeon Siege II (Microsoft Game Studios)
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (LucasArts)
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
BEST WIRELESS GAME
Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure (Atari & Glu)
Need for Speed Underground 2 (EA Mobile)
Massive Snowboarding (Gameloft)
The Incredibles 3D (Disney Mobile)
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (Gameloft)
BEST BREAKTHROUGH TECHNOLOGY
Sony PSP (Sony Computer Entertainment America)
Xbox 360 (Microsoft Game Studios)
Nintendogs Voice Recognition (Nintendo Co. Ltd.)
Unreal Engine 3 (Epic Games Inc.)
Facial Mo-cap for NBA Live 06 (Electronic Arts)
CYBER VIXEN OF THE YEAR
Charlize Theron as Aeon Flux in Aeon Flux (Majesco Entertainment)
Jessica Alba as Invisible Woman in Fantastic 4 (Activision)
Traci Lords as Cassandra Hartz in True CrimeNew York City (Activision)
Joanna Dark in Perfect Dark Zero (Microsoft Game Studios)
Maria Menounos as Eva in James Bond 007: From Russia With Love (Electronic Arts)
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN—MALE
50 Cent in 50 Cent: Bulletproof (Vivendi Universal Games)
Jack Black in Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (Ubisoft)
Michael Chiklis in Fantastic 4 (Activision)
Sean Connery in James Bond 007: From Russia With Love (Electronic Arts)
Terrence “T.C.” Carson in God of War (Sony Computer Entertainment America)
BEST SUPPORTING MALE PERFORMANCE
Eminem in 50 Cent: Bulletproof (Vivendi Universal Games)
Dr. Dre in 50 Cent: Bulletproof (Vivendi Universal Games)
Christopher Walken in True Crime: New York City (Activision)
Michael Clarke Duncan in The Suffering: Ties That Bind (Midway)
Diddy in Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure (Atari)
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN–FEMALE
Charlize Theron in Aeon Flux (Majesco Entertainment)
Naomi Watts in Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
(Electronic Arts)
Josie Maran in Need for Speed Most Wanted (Electronic Arts)
Jessica Alba in Fantastic 4 (Activision)
Cornelia Hayes O’Herlihy as Fiona Belli in Haunting Ground (Capcom)
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE PERFORMANCE
Maria Menounos as Eva in James Bond 007: From Russia With Love (Electronic Arts)
Rosario Dawson in Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure (Atari)
Natasha Bedingfield in James Bond 007: From Russia With Love (Electronic Arts)
Mariska Hargitay in True Crime: New York City (Activision)
Traci Lords in True Crime: New York City (Activision)
BEST CAST
Fantastic 4 (Activision)
Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (Electronic Arts)
50 Cent: Bulletproof (Vivendi Universal Games)
True Crime: New York City (Activision)
James Bond 007: From Russia With Love (Electronic Arts)
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Maybe We Crazy” by 50 Cent in 50 Cent: Bulletproof (Vivendi Universal Games)
“Lights and Sounds” by Yellowcard in Burnout Revenge (Electronic Arts)
“When I Get Angry” by Spider Loc in Madden NFL 06 (Electronic Arts)
“Getting Up Anthem: Part I” by Talib Kweli and Rakim in Mark Ecko’s
Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure (Atari)
“Error Operator” by Taking Back Sunday in Fantastic 4 (Activision)
BEST SOUNDTRACK
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar Games)
50 Cent: Bulletproof (Vivendi Universal Games)
Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland (Activision)
Guitar Hero (RedOctane)
SSX On Tour (Electronic Arts)
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Call of Duty 2 (Activision)
We Love Katamari (Namco Hometek)
God of War (Sony Computer Entertainment America)
Indigo Prophecy (Atari)
Perfect Dark Zero (Microsoft Game Studios)
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